Everything's Local

One of the foundational appeals of craft beer is supporting a local brewery.  In recent years there’s been a growing appeal all around to support local businesses.  Combining local beer and local food is also a growing trend in restaurants and grocery stores.  I’ll always recall my friend, Evan Benn, using the old adage, “What grows together goes together.”  While this was originally coined for food and wine pairing, it’s not too much of a stretch to apply the same principal to beer.

There’s only one problem with this situation.  What if the local food was actually made somewhere else further away and just had a local company’s label on it?  What if this was the case for the beer?  Due to the increasing demand for craft beer, this is becoming more and more likely of a scenario.  When a brewery has its beer made at a separate location, this is referred to as contract brewing.       

Contract brewing can be a starting point for some companies, while it’s a necessity for others. As breweries reach their maximum capacity, they’re left with a choice.  They need to decide whether to fund an expansion, or contract their beer through another brewery.  While an accountant can tell you which method will be more cost effective, there are other non-financial decisions that need to be made as well.

Other big factors in contract brewing relate to quality assurance, recipe standardization, and logistics.  Maintaining consistency at multiple locations can be a nightmare.  Keeping all the raw materials identical is huge, but how do you maintain consistency with beer’s most prolific ingredient…water?  It’s certainly not impossible to modify another brewery’s water source, but it isn’t always easy or cheap.  Once it’s determined that quality standards can be maintained off site, transportation and storage become a major issue.  Suppose a brewery in California finds a great location in Minnesota to produce their beer.  How does this affect the distribution of the final product?  This is another tough situation that isn’t impossible to handle, but can be significantly more expensive.  These are just a few of the many things to consider when determining whether or not to move production outside of the main brewery.

What if the brewery in question never had a brew house to begin with? 

Due to the huge expense of brewing equipment, some brewers are forgoing these costs by brewing their beer in another brewery.  There are several types of arrangements that can fit into this model.  For some companies, all of their beer is made by another brewery.  Some brewers actually go to another brewery and brew the beer themselves.  Other brewers travel between multiple breweries depending on who has capacity for extra volume.

Should these beers still be considered local?

Maybe, maybe not depending on where they’re being produced.

Is drinking local beer the most important thing to you?

The beauty of beer, especially compared to wine, is that it can be made anywhere in the world and anytime of the year.  Drinking locally produced beer is great, but why would you turn down a great beer made somewhere else.  If a local brewery is having their beer made somewhere else, they’ll most likely share that information with their customers.  Whatever reasons a brewery has for contracting; their beer should still be approached like any other.

Always support local, but never hesitate to enjoy a beer made somewhere else…no matter who brewed it. 

SOURCE:

http://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-muses/contract-is-not-a-dirty-word-in-brewing